Tension device for musical stringed instruments



Jan. 9, 1923.

B. E. MILLS.

TENSION DEVICE FOR MUSICAL STRINGED INSTRUMENTS.

FILED AUG- 22,192]- Patented Jan. 9, 1923.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BERTIE E. MILLS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO MILLS NOVELTY COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

TENSION DEVICE FOR MUSICAL STRINGED INSTRUMENTS.

Application filed August 22, 1921.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Bna'rrn Ev MILLS, a citizen of the United States, residing at 221 South Green Street, Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Tension Devices for Musical Stringed Instruments,

of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in tensioning devices for musical stringed instruments and is fully described and explained in the specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, inlwhich Figure 1 is a view inside elevation showing my invention applied in its preferred form to an automatically-played violin;

Figure 2 is a broken view in side elevation,

showing on a larger scale my invention applied to the neck-portion of the violin; Figme 3 is abroken enlarged view in side elevation of the lever for carrying the stringtensioning weight, and to which myimprovement mainly relates; Figure 4 is a view in end-elevation of the head of the lever shown in Fig. 3; Figure 5 is a section on line 55 of Fig. 3; Figure 6 is a broken plan view of the showing in Fig. 2, and

Figure 7 is a broken view in section on line 77, Fig. 2.

The present invention is primarily intended to improve the mechanism of the tensioning device of Letters Patent No. 1,068,935, dated July 29, 1913 to H. K. Sandell, by not only materially simplifying the 35 same but, and principally by greatly reducing the wear on the stretched strings at their bearing points on the inner ends or heads of the weighted levers.

As in the aforesaid patent, the showing of the tensioning-device is in connection with the automatically-played violin of Letters Patent No. 807,871, dated December 19, 1905, but my invention is not intended to be limited'to that particular application any more than is the patented device upon which the present is an improvement.

, The violin 8 is supported on a bed-plate 8" on brackets 9 and 9 respectively near its opposite ends to lie in the illustrated somew at inclined position, and is played by sounders 10 on rotating shafts 11 depressible to cause the sounders to attack the strings that are played by fingeringwlevicesv in the Serial No. 494,848.

the rear part of the head is formed, or

rigidly secured a back 20 having five parallel uniformly-spaced tongues 18 extending on and partway along the tongues 18 to register therewith and register the spaces between the latter with those between the tongues 18*. In the face of each shorter tongue 18 is formed a V-shaped notch 21. Each lever 22 employed, as in the former construction, to carry a string-tensioning weight 28 has its forward end threaded, as

shown in Fig. 1, a yoke-shaped hanger 23,

on which the weight 28 is pivotally suspended, depending from the threaded leverend, where it carries between the hangerarms a nut 24: for moving the hanger to. adjust the weight onthe lever for tensioning the respective string29 to the approximate requisite pitch.

The lever terminates at its rear end in a head 25 of the preferred contour illustrated, involving a chin-portion 25 and a curved head-portion, the upper edge of which latter describes convexly an arc of a circle and is provided along its upper edge with a central string-confining groove 25" registering with a downwardly curved passage 26" through a hump 26 on the lever 'ust forward of the head A stud 30, of V-s ape in cross-secton to provide a knife-edge fulcrum, extends concentrically with the arc of the head-portion through the chin-portion 25" to project at opposite sides thereof, and is correspondingly chamfered on its end-faces toslope forwardly for the purpose hereinafter explained. A sleeve 31 extends inclinedly on the top of the lever-stem to adjustably confine the threaded stem of a hook 32, the stem carrying a nut 32 to abut against the forward end of the sleeve and serving to supplement the weight in tensioning the string, the end of which is fastened to the hook.

Each lever-head tits at its chin-portion in the space between two adjacent tongues 18 of the head 16 and those in the back 20, to enter its stud into and fulcrum the lever in adjacent notches 21 in the back. To confine the levers in their pivotally operating posis tion a plate 33 is separably secured on the top of the back .20, to whichit conforms, though its spaced tongues are slightly longer than the tongues 18, as indicated in Fig. 2. The back-covering plate 33 thus cooperates with the vertical fingers 19 to confine the levers against displacement. lVitht-he levers all in place, the rear points of the sloping faces of the adjacent fulcruming studs are in close-proximity to each other and are thus retained by set-screws 34: inserted through opposite ends of the back 20. The points of adjacent sloping stud-faces are not intended to necessarily contact with each other, but if they should the rubbing contact is so slight that it produces frictional resistance to the lever-heads so little as to be negligible in the way of offering resistance to their sli ht vibratory movements by playing on the strings of the instrument.

At 85 (Fig.1) is represented a stop-rail extending underneath levers to arrest each against undue depression by the respective weight 28 in the event of a string breaking; and at 36. is represented the usual box for holding rosin for automatic application to the rotating sounders 1O beneath the box.

As will be seen, by passing each string over the curved elongated bearing on a lever head, the wear on the string in its taut condition and under the vibration of its con trolling lever is rendered comparatively slight, especially so by the concentric relation of the curved head-portion to the leverfulcrum; and the curvature of the passage 26 for the string on its way to the attaching-hook 32 tends to supplementthe function of the lever-head. 1

I realize that considerable variation is possible in the details of the construction herein shown, andI do not intend to limit myself thereto, except as pointed out in the appended claims, in which it ismy intention to claim all the novelty inherent in the device as broadly as is permitted by the state of the art.

I claim:-

1. In a musical stringed instrument,

.means for keeping a string thereof in tune,

comprising a weighted, headed lever fulcrumedat its head on the instrument, said head having a convexly-curved elongated bearingportion over whichthe string passes to said lever for attachment of its end thereto. i

2.111 a musical stringed instrument,

thereto.

means for keeping a string thereof in tune, comprising a weighted, headed lever fulcrumed at its head on the instrument, said head having a convcxlycurved elongated grooved bearing-portion over which the string passes under confinement in the groove to said lever for attachment of its end thereto.

3. In a musical stringed instrument, means for keeping a string thereof in tune, comprising a weighted, headed lever fulcrumed at its head onthe instrument, said head having a conveXly-curved elongated bearing-portion for the string, and a downwardly curved passage in the lever in advance of said bearing-portion and through which the string passes from the latter to the lever for attachment of its end thereto.

4. In a musical stringed instrument, means for keeping a string thereof in tune, comprising a weighted, headed lever fulcrumed at its head on the instrument, said head having an arc-shaped convex bearingportion concentric with the fulcrum and over which the string passes tosaid lever for attachment of its end thereto.

5. In a musical stringed instrument, means for keeping a string thereof in tune, comprising a weighted, headed lever fulcrumed at its head on the instrument, said head having an arc-shaped convex bearing portion concentric with the fulcrum, and a hump on the lever adjacent said head containing a downwardly-curved passage in advance of said bearing-portion and through which the string passes therefrom to the lever for attachment of its end G. In a musical stringed instrument, means for keeping a string thereof in tune, comprising a head secured on theinstrument having spaced tongues terminating in upright lingers and provided witha back having spaced tongues extending along the head-tongues and provided with V-shaped notches, a weighted. lever having a head confined in the space between said tongues and provided with a V-shaped fulcrum-stud working in adjacent notches in said back, said lever-head'having an arc-shaped bearing-portion concentric with the fulcrum, a downwardly curved passage in the lever in advance of saidbearing-portion andthrough vwhich the string passes therefrom, and an attaching-device on the lever for the" end of the string.

7. In a musical stringed instrument, means for keeping the strings thereof in tune, comprising a head secured on the instrument havingspaced tongues terminating in upright fingers and provided with a back having spaced tongues extending along the head-tongues and provided with V-shaped notches, levers forthe instrumentstrings, each lever adjustably carrying a weight and having a head confined in the space between ad acent said tongues, said lever-head being provided with a V-shaped fulcrum-stud having chamfered ends and I working in adjacent notches in said back and being formed with an arc-shaped bearing-portion concentric with the fulcrum and a downwardly-curved passage in the lever in advance of said bearing-portion and through which the string passes therefrom, hooks adjustably supported on the levers for attachment of the ends of the strings, and set-screws in the end of said back for maintaining the chamfered end-faces of the series of fulcrum-studs in relative position. 15

BERTIE E. MILLS. 

